


Hello, Goodbye

by rippedoutgrace



Category: One Direction (Band)
Genre: Alternate Universe, Gen
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2013-10-12
Updated: 2013-10-12
Packaged: 2017-12-29 05:46:38
Rating: Not Rated
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,354
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/1001720
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/rippedoutgrace/pseuds/rippedoutgrace
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>In which Liam wants to meet that guy he keeps seeing all over town</p>
            </blockquote>





	Hello, Goodbye

**Author's Note:**

  * For [LolitaStyles](https://archiveofourown.org/users/LolitaStyles/gifts).



> Just a little nonsense ficlet I wrote for LolitaStyles. <3 you!! 
> 
> Title from The Beatles song of the same name, for no particular reason.

It was getting weird now. He was just... _everywhere._

He was walking six dogs down Liam’s street on Monday.

 

On Tuesday, he was behind the counter at the coffeeshop around the corner, refilling the glass case full of banana nut breads and flaky pastries.

 

Liam needed eggs on Wednesday and nearly ran right into him handing out flyers on the pavement outside of Tesco. He took a flyer and folded it into his pocket without looking at it. As soon as he was safely in the refrigerated section, he looked around before smoothing out the creases and reading the advert for a Saturday night show of _The Itchy Jumpers_ at ten p.m., coincidentally in the pub where Niall was the barkeep.

 

He kept chuckling at the name while he picked up his eggs and paid for them. He didn’t see him outside the shop any longer and carefully did not think about him on the walk home.

 

Thursday was almost over before he saw him again. Liam had been too busy that morning to head to the gym, so it was nearly eight by the time he got there. As he walked past the treadmills towards the free weights, he passed the glass side room full of stationary bikes.

 

And there he was. Leading a spinning class of all things. Liam could hear him calling out in a surprisingly deep voice, “Climb! Climb! Keep your tempo!” and his class huffing and puffing onto their bike handles.

 

Liam couldn’t stop thinking about him. He was tall, maybe taller than Liam. He’d never been near him long enough to determine it but yeah, _tall_. His hair was either wildly curly or pulled behind a headband, which honestly was just ridiculous. Liam rubbed his hand over his short bristles, not missing the upkeep of longer hair in the least.

 

But what was with all the jobs? So far Liam knew he was a dog walker, a barista, a spinning class instructor, and most likely was in a band. When did he find time to _sleep_? As a firefighter, Liam got strange times off work, in fact he had the week off starting Saturday.

 

Friday, however, came and went without a single glimpse of him. Whoever he was. Liam told himself he wasn’t sad about this. It certainly wasn’t the highlight of Liam’s day to see what _he_ was doing that day.

 

Of course not.

 

Saturday morning was Liam’s laundry day and as he sat in the Laundromat, mindlessly thumbing through yesterday’s newspaper, he remembered that today was the day of the show for... what was his band called again?

 

He jumped up and started digging through his laundry bag, praying he hadn’t washed them yet. “Yes!” he crowed, pulling out his jeans and startling the woman sliding coins into the slot of the washing machine.

 

Liam shot her an apologetic, sheepish smile and stuck his hand in the pockets, wiggling his fingers looking for the flyer. He extracted it, crushed and wrinkled from his right back pocket. He had to smooth it out on the corner of the dryer behind him before he could read it.

 

Right, _The Itchy Jumpers_. Playing tonight at ten. Well, he had nothing else going on tonight. And all his clothes would be clean so he could find something to wear. The stars were just clearly aligning for him to go. He wondered if he should call Louis to go with him, but decided against it as Niall would undoubtedly be there and he’d been meaning to check in on him anyway. Kill two birds with one stone, as it were.

 

Nine fifty-five and Liam was casually sipping at a pint and dabbing at his just cleaned jeans. Niall was so surprised to see him he knocked over the G&T of the woman next to him as he threw his upper half over the bar to hug Liam’s neck. Liam accepted the hug and the damp towel Niall offered while refilling the woman’s drink. Liam smelled vaguely like Christmas now and he wasn’t sure if he liked it.

 

As he fielded Niall’s questions, he kept one eye on the back wall where he could see a guy tuning a guitar while talking to someone out of Liam’s line of sight. And then he came forward, shaking his hair out and smiling at the other (extraordinarily good-looking) one.

 

“Hey, Niall? Who’s, uh, playing tonight?”

 

“Ohh, you know Zayn? We play football on Thursdays? He and his mate Harry’ve got this band and we had an opening so I offered them the gig. A little...” Niall furrowed his brow. “Hipster. I guess that’s what you’d call them.”

 

Harry. His name was Harry. Harry and Zayn, and their hipster band. And Harry’s seven thousand other jobs.

 

Exactly at ten p.m., Zayn tapped the microphone and introduced himself and Harry, who smiled hugely and waved, exposing the rips in his black t-shirt. Liam couldn’t tell if it was supposed to be ripped or not, to be honest.

 

Niall whooped from behind the bar and Liam knew his ears were turning pink when the sound caught Harry’s attention and he looked over. And his smile got even bigger, showing all his teeth, as he saw Liam. He nodded in acknowledgment and started picking at his guitar strings. Liam nodded in return before focusing completely on his beer and ignoring Niall’s curious glance. Zayn followed on guitar and they started singing into the microphones.

 

“You know Harry?”

 

Liam shook his head. “No, I’ve just seen him around.”

 

Well, it was true. If not the understatement of the year.

 

He recognized exactly none of the songs Harry and Zayn played but enjoyed their sound, clapping enthusiastically after each one and even managing to look Harry in the eye by the end. Harry plucked out a complicated riff before yelling into the microphone in that gravelly voice, “We’re _The Itchy Jumpers_ , thank you and good night!”

 

He and Zayn high fived each other and grabbed each other around the collars of their ripped t-shirts as they put away their guitars and made it over the bar. They accepted back pats on their way and Zayn even took a picture with a group of giggling girls.

 

Niall reached out hand when Harry got close and he clasped it with a cheerful grin. Zayn was a little more subdued but no less excited when he greeted Niall.

 

“Hey, Zayn, Harry, you know my mate Liam here?”

 

Zayn shook his head but kindly reached a hand out to Liam with a smile. “Enjoy the show, Liam?” he asked in a decidedly Bradford accent.

 

“I did,” Liam nodded. “I didn’t recognize the songs? But you’re both really great. Very, um, good sounding.”

 

“I know you!” Harry piped in.

 

Liam licked his lips and nodded. “Yeah, I’ve seen you... here and there.”

 

“Everywhere!” Harry smiled. “It seems like I keep running into you.”

 

He slid onto the stool beside Liam, baring his teeth at Niall when a pint appeared before him. “So, I’m Harry.”

 

“Right. Liam.” He fiddled with the handle on his glass before looking back at Harry, who looked a little flushed and sweaty from performing. “So, what exactly do you _do_ , Harry? I’ve seen you doing, like, ten different things this week.”

 

Harry laughed and shrugged. “I do a little bit of everything, I guess. Life’s too short to be stuck doing just one thing. You know?”

 

Liam nodded like he did know. He didn’t. He did the same things every day, worked the same job every week. He had no idea what Harry was talking about. But he liked the notion.

 

“Well, Liam, I hate to do this, but I’ve got to go,” Harry took a huge swallow from his glass before rising, and genuinely looking sorry to leave. “I’ve have to get to the bakery early in the morning.”

 

“...the bakery? You work there, too?”

 

Harry grinned and squeezed his shoulder. “I work everywhere, mate. I’ll see you around.”

 

Yes, Liam supposed he would. Only next time, he could say hello and the thought made him smile.

 

 


End file.
